The following objectives should be met by the end of this first module:
- Define planning, planning characteristics, planning outcomes, strategic planning, and strategic management and understand their importance in healthcare organizations
- Model the planning and strategic management process, model the process integrating marketing and then interacting with stakeholders
- List the four main strategic organizational choices and the characteristics of each.
- Review and define the marketing concept, a marketing audit, and elements of marketing (PPPP, SCAP)
- Be able to develop a marketing plan in context of healthcare planning.
These notes are intended only to supplement your readings. The best way to ensure each module is absorbed is to complete all the readings prior to reviewing these lecture notes. I will try to highlight what I believe to be the most important topics from your module readings. If you have any questions or concerns or there is something you do not understand, please ask me. You can either post on the webboard the question you have (that way others can benefit from the response), or you can e-mail me if you want a more private response. Either way it is extremely important that you have a complete and thorough understanding of the material for the module. Good luck and have a great semester!
This module begins section number three entitled "Healthcare Administration Concepts". This module will focus on healthcare industry analysis, otherwise known as healthcare planning and marketing. These are skills that add onto the basic skills of management that you have already been taught in other classes. Planning and marketing are basic tools that are used by the healthcare administrator on a daily basis. Planning is one of the fundamental functions of a manager and when used to plan for healthcare services it becomes more than fundaments. No longer are you planning only for your organization and your employees, but you are now planning for the healthcare needs of those patients you serve. Marketing is used in the analysis portion of healthcare planning and once the plan is implemented it is used to ensure that everyone knows the service is available and ready to be utilized.Chapter 6 of your text is listed as an optional reading this week. I (of course) do suggest you read it as review for this module. It will refresh your memory on some organizational design concepts that lay the foundation for healthcare planning. Remember that the organizational design of your HSO is built around your mission statement. Any planning and marketing that will be done must encompass this vision statement. If it does not, the design of your HSO may not fit what you are planning to do. Thus, you may need to reorganize for your new venture to be successful. But, for the rest of this module let's assume our organizational design is appropriate for whatever we may be planning.
Planning has certain characteristics and outcomes when used in the healthcare field. Characteristics include type and time frame, individuals who plan and the approaches that are used. Page 307 of your reading in Rakich provides figure 8.1 which illustrates the characteristics of the two main types of planning (strategic and operational). The outcomes of the planning process should include a mission, objectives, strategies and programs, as well as policies and procedures. Based on what type of planning you are doing, these will be developed either for the organization or a specific program or department.
Chapter 4 of your text is again going to be mostly review. It will cover the basic areas of the planning function for managers in healthcare. The planning process is make up of six steps:
- situational analysis
- develop relevant alternatives
- evaluate the alternatives
- choose an alternative
- implement the plan
- monitor and control
Situational analysis is the first step in the planning process, it may also be referred to as "health industry analysis". This step is where planners collect and analyze available information related to the plan they are about to take on. The analysis must include three types of information 1)estimates of factual data, 2)policies of the organization, and 3)future plans of the organization as a whole. Situational analysis is the most time consuming of the entire planning process, but must be well thought out. Our healthcare system is dynamic and ever-changing, this makes it all the more important to plan well. You do not want a plan initiated in a year to be thrown out because the environment has changed making the project unnecessary. It is impossible to predict future events perfectly, therefore all plans must be flexible and allow for changes that will occur.
Any goals and objectives developed for planning purposes must be linked to the strategic goals of the organization. This is essential for the success of any future project within the organization. Strategic planning for the organization is similar to the healthcare planning discussed earlier in the chapter except for the goal and the analysis. By means of it's own definition, strategic planning is done for the long term benefit of the organization. In this type of planning, both external and internal analysis of the organizational environment must be done. Once the analysis is complete a strategy can be chosen based upon the needs of the organization. Strategic implementation and control are discussed in the final stages of this chapter to ensure that the strategy chosen continues to dictate goals of the organization. Situational analysis (monitoring) must continually be done so that when the environment changes the organization can adapt to survive.
Marketing is a function that is usually associated with business type industries that are selling a product. Healthcare organizations also participate in marketing and have done so for some time without actually knowing it. Public relations, information dissemination, image promotion, and staff recruitment are just a few of the marketing activities HSOs regularly perform. Marketing today for HSOs is consumer focused and seeks to identify and satisfy the needs and wants of stakeholders so that the HSO can meet its objectives and fulfill its mission.
"To survive and succeed, organizations must know their markets, attract sufficient resources, convert these resources into appropriate products, services, and ideas, and effectively distribute them to various consuming publics."Marketing is an integral part of strategic planning. A marketing concept, marketing audit and marketing elements all combine to integrate with the strategic plan of the organization. Marketing can be considered the environmental link to the HSO and is used in the analysis portion of the planning process.
That is it for notes for module #7! Let me know if you have any questions.